Phil Brown has just spent 30 minutes reliving all the twists and turns that led Hull City to history in the Championship play-off final on this day in 2008 when he feels the need for a confession.

“As we’re talking, and I’ve done many interviews about it since, I still find myself choking up,” he says. “It’s amazing, it really is. That’s the impact football has on you. Ten years ago and what we achieved as a group in that season still has this profound effect on me.”

Brown moved on from his golden days in East Yorkshire long ago, taking charge of Preston North End, Southend United and now Swindon Town, but there will always be a magnetic draw back to that watershed campaign when he became the first manager to lead City into the top flight.

Forty years in football have given Brown nothing quite like it. As a right-back with Hartlepool, Halifax, Bolton and Blackpool there was plenty of fulfillment, just as there was when serving as assistant to Colin Todd and Sam Allardyce.

An admirable managerial career now boasts over 500 games and its fair share of highlights, but Brown still remains best known for doing what his 33 predecessors could not in charge of City.

Context only makes the 58-year-old’s achievements all the more laudable. The Tigers were second bottom of the Championship when Brown first took the reins from Phil Parkinson 18 months before Wembley and, with just four wins from 22 games, in grave danger of tumbling back into League One.

Phil Parkinson and Phil Brown celebrate

Survival was eventually secured on the penultimate weekend of the 2006-07 to see Brown granted a long-term contract by incoming chairman Paul Duffen but even then it was a three-year plan to turn City into a Premier League club.

“If you knew me, I was the one asking why we couldn’t do it in one year,” said Brown.

“I always thought Hull City were a great football club. When I was coming up against them as a player or a coach, coming over to Boothferry Park made you understand there was big potential there.

“When I first went to the KC, it was clear that it was a club on the way up. When you get a group of people together on the same page in terms of ambition and belief, you never know how far you can go.”

Brown and Duffen soon became a force to be reckoned with at City’s helm. The pair fed off one another’s enthusiasm, driving the club far beyond initial expectations.

“If you remember initially it was Paul who targeted staying clear of relegation, pushing up towards mid-table that season,” said Brown. “Then it was just before Christmas when we were hovering around halfway and he was then wanting the top half. By March he was saying if we didn’t make the play-offs it would be disappointing.

Phil Brown and Paul Duffen celebrate promotion (Image: HDM)

“Slowly but surely, the club’s ambition changed that season. We were gaining momentum and getting closer and closer to the Premier League.

“It wasn’t an overnight success, but I think a lot of that came back to the fear from the previous season when the team had been fighting relegation.

“We had the scare, but let’s utilise that and use it to our advantage. That was a motivation and then there was the carrot at the end of the stick, promotion to the Premier League.

“Hull City had been through a recent history in the lower leagues, almost going out of business, but I wanted there to be a drive of getting to the Premier League.”

If Brown’s vision appeared fanciful when struggling to exit the bottom half of the Championship during the early winter months, things began to change through January, February and March. Just three defeats came in 22 games after City were thumped 4-0 away to Southampton before Christmas, with a 3-1 win away to Barnsley even taking Brown’s men up to second.

“If ever I’ve witnessed what momentum can do, that was the year,” said Brown. “For us there was a build up through the whole season.

Hull City's Jay-Jay Okocha celebrates the team's win over Bristol City in the Championship play-off at Wembley

“There was an eclectic mix of players. You had a worldwide phenomenon in Jay-Jay Okocha, but you also had the local boys in Nick Barmby and Dean Windass.

“You also had good solid characters, like Michael Turner, Andy Dawson, Wayne Brown.

“That defence allowed the lads in front of them to go and win games but there was always a collective work ethic and a togetherness that I tried to replicate from my time at Bolton.

“One wins, we all win. One loses, we all lose. We had an unbelievable changing room because everyone bought into that ethos.”

Defeats away to Sheffield United and Ipswich meant it was Stoke who joined West Brom on a direct path to the Premier League but the play-offs only served to sharpen a city’s focus. Once Watford were beaten over two legs to send City to Wembley for the very first time, supporters were camping overnight at the KCOM Stadium to ensure they would be headed to the capital. Just under 40,000 tickets were snapped up in no time.

“People tell you to keep a lid on it, it’s just another game, but it was very difficult to do all that,” said Brown. “We all started to just roll with it. From an early part of beating Watford over two legs, we just thought ‘F*ck it, let’s make it a special time, let’s make it historic.’

Hull City's Ian Ashbee with mascot Bailey Wood as Wayne Brown, Boaz Myhill and manager Phil Brown look on before their match against Bristol City

“Don’t got me wrong, we took advice from Sir Alex Ferguson about going to Wembley, sorting your family and friends out for tickets, all those little details.

“It’s a small part of the build-up, but it’s such an important part of your day to know where your family are.

“The bottom line is that it’s about 90 minutes of football, something you’ve worked all your life for. Forget all those little things as early as you can and focus on what you’re there for.

“I didn’t want to pour cold water on it all and pretend it’s another game. I wanted the players to know it was a special game in the history of Hull City.”

Brown had done his homework and removed his staff and players from the bubble in the days that led up to the play-off final. Media commitments were completed and a tight-knit group travelled south to their base at the Grove Hotel near Watford.

Hull City manager Phil Brown during the Championship play-off final at Wembley

Wembley was visited the afternoon before facing Bristol City and that attention to detail has been credited with settling players down. But what about Brown? How did he cope carrying the hopes of an East Yorkshire army?

“It’s all very much a blur, but I do remember the key moments,” he said. “I remember looking around, some time around the 75th minute when we were 1-0 up, and feeling so lonely in the technical area.

“There was 40,000 people to my left in Hull City colours, but I remember looking around and thinking ‘Wow, this is what you’re in the game for, this is what I believe I was born for’.

“It was an unbelievable feeling at full-time, but I do remember looking across to Gary Johnson, the man I’d just locked horns with, and feeling empathy for him. We were going on to the Premier League and he was heading for the Championship.”

The celebrations were nevertheless long, first at Wembley when swamped by a coaching team that included the key components of Brian Horton and Steve Parkin, and then back at the team hotel surrounded by family and friends. Brown was still awake to see the sun come up the next morning.

“I remember there was a beach in the walled garden at the hotel,” he added. “That was surreal. They’d installed 40 tonnes of sand that was a theme at the time and it had a volleyball net there and tables and chairs. It was like you were sitting in the Bahamas.

“I went through the night without getting tired and not getting drunk. I stayed with the moment all the way through the night.

“It was 7am the next morning and I couldn’t sleep. We probably finished drinking at about 5am, but then I was up having breakfast with Brian Horton just after that.

“I walked into the breakfast room and there was Windass having a pint of Guinness and a bowl of cereal. Those are the moments that’ll live forever in my memory. If you’re going to win a game like that, you might as well have a party. And we certainly did that.”